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Since 1957, Wins without facing a batter

Posted by Andy on June 27, 2007

Sean's last post about saves reminded me of this equally rare feat: getting a win without facing a batter. Here's all 15 times it's been done since 1957:

  Cnt Player            Date          Tm   Opp GmReslt App,Dec    IP   H  R ER BB **SO** HR Pit Str GmSc IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP   ERA
+----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+---------+----+--+--+--+--+------+--+---+---+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+------+
    1 Chad Paronto      2007-05-06    ATL  LAD W  6-4   7-7  ,W   0.1  0  0  0  0    0    0   1   0       1  0  0  0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  1  0  0  0   0.00 
    2 Tyler Johnson     2006-09-27    STL  SDP W  4-2   8-8  ,W   0.1  0  0  0  0    0    0   6   3       2  1  0  0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  1   0.00 
    3 Bill Bray         2006-06-03    WSN @MIL W  4-3   8-8  ,W   0.1  0  0  0  0    0    0   1   1       1  0  0  0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  1  0  0  0   0.00 
    4 Tyler Walker      2005-09-17    SFG  LAD W  2-1   8-8  ,W   0.1  0  0  0  0    0    0   3   2       1  0  0  0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  1  0  0  0   0.00 
    5 Paul Shuey        2003-07-24    LAD  COL W  1-0  11-11f,W   0.1  0  0  0  0    0    0   3   2       1  0  0  0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   0.00 
    6 Kyle Farnsworth   2003-07-02    CHC @PHI W  1-0   8-8  ,W   0.1  0  0  0  0    0    0   1   0       1  0  0  0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  1  0  0  0   0.00 
    7 B.J. Ryan         2003-05-01(1) BAL @DET W  5-2   7-7  ,W   0.1  0  0  0  0    0    0               1  0  0  0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  1  1  0  0   0.00 
    8 Scott Bailes      1998-05-21    TEX  SEA W  9-8   9-9f ,W   0.1  0  0  0  0    0    0   2   1       1  0  0  0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  1  0  0  0   0.00 
    9 Derek Lilliquist  1994-04-13    CLE @CAL W  6-5   9-9  ,W   0.1  0  0  0  0    0    0   5   3       1  0  0  0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  1  0  0  0   0.00 
   10 Gary Wayne        1993-05-25    COL @HOU W  7-5   7-7  ,W   0.1  0  0  0  0    0    0   3   1       1  0  0  0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  1  0  0  0   0.00 
   11 Al Osuna          1990-09-28    HOU  ATL W  2-1  10-10f,W   0.1  0  0  0  0    0    0               1  0  0  0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  1  0  0  0   0.00 
   12 Larry Andersen    1986-06-23    HOU  CIN W  7-6   9-9f ,W   0.1  0  0  0  0    0    0               2  0  0  0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   0.00 
   13 Greg Garrett      1970-07-01    CAL @MIL W  4-3   6-6  ,W   0.1  0  0  0  0    0    0               1  0  0  0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  1  1  0  0   0.00 
   14 Frank Carpin      1966-05-05    HOU  CHC W  4-3  13-13f,W   0.1  0  0  0  0    0    0               2  0  0  0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  2  1  0  0  0   0.00 
   15 Jim Coates        1965-08-28    CAL  DET W  4-3   7-7  ,W   0.1  0  0  0  0    0    0               2  0  0  0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0

Chad Paronto did it several weeks ago. He came into the game, then Juan Pierre was caught stealing, and Edgar Renteria hit a 2-run double next inning to get Paronto the win.

Last year, Tyler Johnson pulled off a doozie. Top of the 8th, runners on 2nd and 3rd with two outs,  game tied at 1. Johnson comes in the face Mark Bellhorn and throws a wild pitch. Runner from 3rd scores, and the runner from 2nd tries to score but gets nailed it home to end the inning. An Albert Pujols 3-run homer later, Johnson is the winner.

Take a look at some of the other games on this list. Lots of weirdness.

5 Responses to “Since 1957, Wins without facing a batter”

  1. Joel Says:

    Here's one for you. Pitchers who have no innings pitched and no pitches thrown in an appearance. http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/nZ5n

    What I can't find, through PI at least, is an appearance by Ryan Franklin on Aug 23rd of last season where he came in mid-AB and completed a walk for Todd Coffey, who had been thrown out of the game. Franklin was then taken out of the game after throwing 2 pitches, but the pitches were credited to Coffey since he started the at bat. So Franklin gets credit for the appearance but essentially nothing else. I'm interested to know how many times something like that has happened. Any guesses on how to find those instances?

  2. Joel Says:

    This is the closest I can get, I think: http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/CUUs

    But this list has a lot of clutter from pitchers who were announced but never pitched, presumably because of injury. You can see the difference in Franklin's appearance compared to some of the others if you look at the play-by-play. He is inserted into the game, a game event happens, and then he is removed. The others are inserted and removed all in the same event line.

    Any ideas on how to just get instances like Franklin's?

  3. Andy Says:

    Sure. Do a PI search with BF (batters faced) = 0. I tried that and it works. Setting the criteria also that pitches = 0 eliminates Franklin's game--I'm not sure why. We'll need Sean to chime in here.

  4. [insert witty title here] » Blog Archive » A pitcher’s record is not meaningful Says:

    [...] sent me a link today to a list of pitchers who had recorded a win without facing a single batter.  Seeing this list reminded me of my total [...]

  5. Section 435 – Jo-Jo Gets a Little Boo-boo, but Braves Prevail by One Says:

    [...] snagged the win on Sunday with a single pitch. Here’s one that’s a little less common: pitcher’s getting a win without facing a batter. The last one was Big Chad Paronto last [...]